Showdown in Choctaw County

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All of this is still in front of them, though. On the drive back from the hospital in Waynesboro, the harsh reality hits deShazo: Keeping Rebecca alive with what few resources are available is unlikely. He passes a hand-painted sign for Pine Grove Cemetery on the corner of a dirt road leading into the forest. He is smoking another cigarette. Along the highway the sweet gum trees have turned flaming orange and the oaks a sunflower yellow. "She’s going to die," he says. "She’s going to die, and there ain’t one goddamn f-ing thing I can do about it."

EPILOGUE: DeShazo angles the blue Pontiac in front of Rebecca Jackson’s trailer and kills the engine. It’s spring, 2002. Their wooden porch has collapsed. He’s stopped by to see Rebecca. For the past year, his work and much of his life has been centered around keeping her alive. Gradually, he’s seen Rebecca’s own desire to survive grow. Last spring, her boyfriend, John, proposed. And as soon as Rebecca is strong enough, they plan to have a wedding. Officially, deShazo was supposed to hand off the case to another social worker months ago. But he can’t. Rebecca needs him (especially since Sara had pneumonia over the summer). In a sense he’s kin to the Jackson’s now. DeShazo hears the sound of wheels on the gravel road. He turns. It’s John and he has Rebecca in the car. She’s thinner than deShazo has ever seen her. John helps her out of her seat. She’s too weak to walk so John lifts her into his arms and carries her into the trailer. A few days later, she’ll be back in the hospital.

Jacob Levenson is a freelance journalist and a fellow with the Open Society Institute. His book on the AIDS epidemic in black America will be published by Pantheon Books in 2003. From the Southern literary and cultural magazine Oxford American (Fall 2001). Subscriptions: $19.95/yr. (6 issues) from Box 1156, Oxford, MS 38655.

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